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A new look at two classic Lesbian and Gay plays: The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman and The Boys In the Band by Mart Crowley. defunkt Theatre with director Jon Kretzu gives two plays that broke new ground to focus on homosexuality in mainstream America. Well hear from the director and two defunkt members, Grace Carter and Matthew Kern who appear in each play. And in the last part of the show we’ll hear from reviewer Justin Hartwig and his thoughts on the film documentary Searching For Sugarman.

defunkt Theatre presents Herstory/History : a pair of landmark plays in repertory: The Boys in The Band by Mart Crowley and The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman. These plays have been rarely seen in recent years but they still have a great deal to say historically about sexual orientation in America. Lillian Hellman’s first play, The Children’s Hour is a tragic story of two women falsely accused of a sexual relationship and the devastating consequences of that lie. The nine men that make up The Boys in the Band were among the first positive depictions of openly gay men in America.

Culminating in this summer’s Pride Festival, director Jon Kretzu collaborates with defunkt theatre to produce two evenings of theater that mirror and inform each other, showing us both how far we have come as a society, and how far we have yet to go.

The Children’s Hour
Lillian Hellman’s classic tale of false accusations and their consequences.

Jon Kretzu, an ensemble of Portland’s finest actors, and an extraordinary design team collaborate to lay bare the timelessness of this landmark work of American theater, by one of America’s first successful female playwrights

defunkt theatre’s Herstory/History: The Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley and The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman directed by Jon Kretzu runs through June 15, 2013. All Performances are at 7: 30 pm. To purchase tickets and see a detailed performance schedule visit defunktheatre.com.

Shows are in two locations:

The Boys in the Band is performed “on location” at 3125 NE Burnside, Portland